The present invention relates to clock synchronization and, particularly, to an improved system and method for locking a signal onto a non-integer multiple of a reference frequency signal.
A phase locked loop (PLL) circuit generates a frequency which is an integer multiple of a reference frequency, usually a stable source such as a crystal oscillator. However, certain applications require a stable signal source which is a non-integer multiple of a stable reference source.
A phase mixer according to the present invention is provided which generates non-integer multiples of a stable reference source. Briefly, the phase mixer according to one embodiment includes a recirculating shift register and a multiplexer. The shift register output addresses the multiplexer, and the multiplexer in turn selects as the output one of the phases of the reference oscillator. The output of the multiplexer is used to clock the shift register. Because the reference oscillator phases are themselves shifted with reference to one another, sequential selection of the phase pulses as output pulses results in an output which is a non-integer multiple of the reference oscillator frequency.